Results tagged “tommenino”

In an expected non-turn of events, Tom Menino was reelected mayor last week. In a somewhat less expected turn of his knee, Menino fell down while at his son's house over the weekend. Mumbles had surgery at Brigham and Women's to repair a tendon torn when he missed a crucial step in a staircase. He's expected to recover fully, but was forced to cancel a celebratory "trip" (ha) to Bermuda due to the fall. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Tonight, Mayor Thomas Menino was reelected to a historic fifth term, which, if served, will make him the longest serving mayor in Boston history. He beat Michael Flaherty by a wide margin of 57 percent of the vote to 42 percent, according to unofficial results. Incumbent City Councilors at large John Connolly and Stephen Murphy also retained their seats by hefty margins. Felix Arroyo and Ayanna Pressley will join city council with 16 and 15 percent of the vote, respectively. Pressley will be the first African American woman to serve on city council in Boston's history. In District 7, Chuck Turner blew away his competition despite a cloud of legal troubles, and Sal Lamattina, Michael Ross, and Mark Ciommo each held off challenges in their respective districts. [City of Boston]

Michael Flaherty and Tom Menino have both tried everything in the past few months to knock people's socks off. Unfortunately for them, many Bostonians remained thoroughly socked, and some have not even made up their mind yet whom to vote for. Over at the Globe, Alex Beam runs through 10 reasons to vote for either guy. Our favorite? Regarding Menino: "2. Flaherty likens Menino to jailed former mayor James Michael Curley, “The Rascal King,’’ of Jack Beatty’s memorable book title. But aren’t there two statues of Curley in downtown Boston? Isn’t his home a local landmark? Throw me in that briar patch!" [Globe]

Scott Lehigh at the Globe penned a wonderful summary of Boston voter Zeitgeist, "Diary of an undecided voter" that describes the "whiplash" of watching a mayoral contest that doesn't have any immediately appealing candidate. "Good, better? Hmm. Bad, worse, maybe," he quips. If you're like him—and us—your last chance to check in on Menino and Flaherty will be this afternoon at 1 p.m. on Radio Boston. It will be live at 1 p.m. on 90.9 F.M. or a trusty webstream.

The Phoenix has raised a bit of a flap over a Globe poll that suggests overall satisfaction with Mayor Tom Menino's performance and a greater affection for Menino than for mayoral election rival Michael Flaherty. 52% are likely to vote for Menino; 32% for Flaherty.

Mayor Menino may have been busy ribbon-cutting, but Michael Flaherty and Sam Yoon have been recruiting "senior advisers" for their joint campaign. Former mayor Ray Flynn (Mumbles' predecessor) and social activist Mel King (a vocal BRA opponent), who once ran against each other for mayor, will announce their support of the Flaherty-Yoon ticket tomorrow morning at City Hall. Flynn and King ("Fling"?) join a campaign that embraces "new solutions to our city's old problems," emphasizes education and city planning, and provides for "Boston residents of every race and gender" according to the announcement. It's an interesting move that aligns some longstanding Boston figures with the promise of change.

We wouldn't be in this mess. In another case of "deleted" emails, a former Bear Sterns worker deleted his Google account, potentially to cover up emails that would reveal information about his alleged role in hedge fund fraud. Fortunately (and not surprisingly), Google has way better backups than the paper-happy mayor's office, and was able to turn in searchable information on CD-ROM to the government. Wow: companies cooperating with the government in a situation where government won't cooperate with itself. Maybe we should just turn everything over to Google. Or would that just lead to evil?

Seems the ol' second computer trick didn't quite do it. Pressed by the Secretary of State to turn over email records, Mayor Tom Menino's chief of policy, Michael Kineavy, is taking a leave until the mystery of the "missing" (er, deleted) emails can be solved. Resignations always look suspiciously like admissions of guilt, but Menino claims his staffers are being "forthright" and cooperative on the issue; we can only assume that by "forthright" he means "bumbling and incompetent." At this point, though, the issue is not about cooperation--it's about whether Kineavy broke the law. This may be a lame comparison, but you can still get a ticket for speeding even if you didn't realize how fast you were going.

• Governor Deval Patrick says his plan to replace cops with civilian flaggers on major work sites would save Masachusetts $7.2 million per year. The city of Boston disagrees, and the City Council yesterday voted 12-1 to prove it. [Boston Herald]

• Several off-duty police officers protested the presence of a civilian flagger in a road crew on Route 6A in West Barnstable. [Cape Cod Times]

• Both candidates appeared on WCVB last night. Tom Menino called the Flaherty/Yoon "ticket" as “jobs for votes," and Flaherty didn't like it. [Boston Herald]

• More budget cuts are looming as Governor Deval Patrick announced that September revenues were $243 million short of expectations. [Boston Globe]

The Globe and Herald are currently calling a Menino-Flaherty runoff for mayor. Menino has 49% and Flaherty 25% with 179 of 254 precincts reporting in the mayoral preliminary, according to the Globe.

Blogger and Twitter user Aaron Cohen quizzed Boston's mayoral candidates about one of the great unknowns in this year's campaign: their respective tastes in fine dining. The results sound as message-focussed as anything in the campaign. Flaherty likes Eastie Italian joint Rino's because of "the chicken parm and warm neighborhood family feel
." Menino hedges his bets: "I like any restaurant in Boston that serves good food." Yoon likes unpretentious fancy food like what you'll find at Aquitaine or Petit Robert—he also gives a shout-out to "farmers markets, bodegas with produce, and roof gardens." [WhereToEat.in]

• Despite what appears to be a highly contested mayoral race in 2009, will the voter turnout be low? [The Boston Phoenix]

• Charles Baker is officially running for Governor, which means he can begin criticizing the incumbent and can start making empty promises that are really popular. [Boston Globe]

We get it, Boston Phoenix. Apparently, Sam Yoon is some kind of Asian—represented in the graphic above by a Chinese food container—and Mayor Thomas Menino is some kind of superhuman white man who springs forth from pure Asianness to conquer the electorate with his shirtless whiteness and his chopsticks. Very classy, but also very racist. What will the Phoenix run if Yoon wins the election? A picture of Fu Manchu bursting out of a pizza box? [Via Sociological Images, since we apparently don't actually read the Phoenix]

Four months from tomorrow, Bostonians will vote in a mayoral election. Do you know who you'll be casting your vote for? Bostonist will be checking out some of the candidates over the next few months. Today, Michael Flaherty.

Sam Yoon needs a tricorn hat. Immediately. June 17, 2009 is Bunker Hill Day and nobody could ever forget it in 2009 because no one will ever shut up about it. Mayor Menino seems to think no child in Boston has ever heard of the historical event it represents despite apparent proof to the contrary reported by the Globe. Yes, the Mayor of Boston actually said Boston Public Schools no longer teach students about the Battle of Bunker Hill. The Globe said Bunker Hill is specifically mentioned in the state's Department of Education curriculum guidelines. The Globe also reportedly couldn't reach school officals because they had the day off. Some people worked, though, even if school officials didn't. And that is the whole ever-loving point, isn't it? (Yes, a line from Primary Colors)Should it be a day off ONLY in Suffolk County? It could be worse, it could be St. Patrick's Day Evacuation Day, which we know exists just to cover a bender.

The Globe ran an editorial yesterday telling us that having an actual race for mayor this year would be good for the city. Kind of a snoozefest if you ask us. You may love our Mayor for Life, but it's not newsworthy to ask him to earn that status by running against some other people. So far those people are looking like city councilors Sam Yoon and Michael Flaherty, plus the inevitable fringe candidates. [Kevin McCrea officially launched his mayoral campaign yesterday. --Ed]

The City of Boston has entered a hiring freeze. Reacting to Governor Deval Patrick's announced $1 billion cut in state spending, Mayor Menino has freezed hiring and has urged a citywide spending audit. (WBZTV) Meanwhile, Boston police have thrown up a wall of platitudes against the dire budgetary news.

Next time you are driving and you feel like nudging a slow cyclist, hold yourself in check, not just because you would be a huge asshole if you did so. You might wind up running over the mayor.

Over the last few years, Boston sports fans have grown accustomed to hearing about the bets waged between mayors and governors whenever their teams are duking it out for a title. The stakes? Typically, it comes down to food - lots of food reflecting some of the finest culinary tastes each team's hometown has to offer. In other words, food that the fans would love to be able to eat. The victorious fans are left puffing out their chests with pride while, we imagine, their municipal counterparts are leaning back in their chairs and unbuckling their suddenly-tight belts.

An old picture of our mayor, Tom Menino, is making the rounds now that Celtic Paul Pierce got in some trouble for throwing what might have been a gang sign at the Atlanta Hawks. (Next time, he should send the one-fingered salute. Everyone understands that gesture.) [Via Sports by Brooks]

A survey revealed that 72 percent of Bostonians are largely happy with the way mayor Tom Menino has been running things. In fact, the Globe headline declared the city was "smitten," which is not a word Bostonist would use to describe how the city's residents view the mayor. Then again, he appears to be quite a hit with the ladies.

--Thanks to the recession we're not in, teens will have fewer summer jobs. And bored teens sometimes become restless teens whom no one wants in their yards. [Boston Globe]

--Mayor Menino has a hotline, but there's no system to track the complaints. [Boston Globe]

Today's Globe featured a story on the tremendous pull that police and fire unions have on city government. Roderick Fraser Jr. heads the fire department, but Local 718 Ed Kelly has his own ideas for the direction of the fire department.

--Six people were injured in a Jeep rollover at Stuart and Charles Streets early this morning. It isn't clear exactly what caused the Jeep to roll over, but it landed wheels up. [WCVB]

--Former Boston mayor Kevin White, who has since relocated to the warmer climate of Florida, injured himself in a fall and is now in stable condition. He is 78 years old. [Boston Herald]

If you want to get teenagers to stop doing something, the best plan of action is to tell them it's destructive and then prohibit them from doing it. That's only backfired... just about every time it's ever been tried.

--St. Patrick's Day, of course! Platinum Elite has wonderful photos and commentary from the parade. We were particularly enamored of the Elvis sighting. [Platinum Elite]